Some Muslims Rethink Close Ties To Law Enforcement
Several Muslim Groups Say FBI Oversteps Bounds; Others Say Relationship Works Well

by Samantha Henry
CBS News
May 4, 2009

http://www.islamist-watch.org/1662/some-muslims-rethink-close-ties-to-law-enforcement

Excerpt:

Mohammad Qatanani's mosque was full of FBI agents the night before he was to find out if he would be deported.

But even though the federal government was trying to link Qatanani to foreign extremists, the agents weren't there to keep an eye on him. They wanted to show their support for a Muslim leader they considered a valued ally for the relationships he helped forge between the FBI and Muslims in the wake of 9/11.

Across the nation, such grass-roots relationships between Muslims and the federal government are in jeopardy. A coalition of Muslim groups is calling for Muslims to stop cooperating with the FBI _ not on national security or safety issues but on community outreach.

The coalition is upset over what it says is increasing government surveillance in mosques, new Justice Department guidelines that the groups say encourage profiling, and the FBI's recent suspension of ties with the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

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